Global governance

Unless countries across the world act together now, the COVID-19 pandemic will cause “unimaginable devastation and suffering around the world”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at a virtual high-level meeting on financing for development.
Painting a picture of 60 million pushed into extreme poverty; famine...

There is a danger that Covid-19 will significantly increase the gap between rich and poor nations. It's time to put in place an ambitious plan to overcome this crisis and save more than 30 million lives, writes Portia Antonia Alexis for Byline Times.
There has been very little international response to COVID-19,...

With a “UN 911” first responder for complex emergencies, the UN would finally have a rapid, reliable capacity to help save millions of lives and trillions of dollars, writes H. Peter Langille for Foreign Policy in Focus.
The global health crisis has become a wake-up call to cooperate for a more just and secure world...

Over 100 former global leaders call for the mandatory worldwide sharing of a Covid19 vaccine - available to all people, in all countries, free of charge.
Humanity today, in all its fragility, is searching for an effective and safe vaccine against COVID-19. It is our best hope of putting a stop to this painful global...

Former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, Professor Alfred de Zayas, urges civil society to demand a new social contract based on human dignity, social justice and sustainability.
He calls on governments to significantly reduce military expenditures and give...

"This is the time to insist on multilateralism, solidarity, and science based health policy making at global and national level. This is the time to rally behind WHO."
The unprecedented outbreak of the new coronavirus once again places the WHO at the centre of global public action for health. Independent global...

Now is the time for citizens to ensure that world leaders forcefully respond to the COVID-19 crisis in accordance with human rights, write Isabel Ortiz and Walden Bello.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented human and economic crisis. Governments are taking strong actions, enforcing...

The Earth Charter recognises that achieving social and economic justice will require both ensuring ecological integrity, as well as the rights to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly etcetera. It is a covenant that defines an overarching way of life and answers the question of how to construct our...

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations issued '30 articles on the 30 articles' that summarise this historic document. Below we republish the introduction and backgrounders about all the economic, social and cultural rights (including Article 25 on the right to an...

With its latest pronouncements on the threat of rising inequality, can we expect to see an International Monetary Fund that firmly rejects the austerity policies it has historically pushed? Unfortunately not, explains Sam Pizzigati for Inequality.org.
What do we want from people in authority? Not much. We want them...

The United Nations will be hosting six high level plenary meetings—unprecedented even by its own standards—during the beginning of the 74th session of the General Assembly in late September, writes Thalif Deen for the Inter Press Service.
The meetings are being viewed primarily as an attempt at reviving multilateral...

The fund’s loan agreement with Ecuador will worsen unemployment and poverty, providing more reasons for serious reform at the IMF, writes Mark Weisbrot.
When people think of the damage that wealthy countries – typically led by the US and its allies – cause to people in the rest of the world, they probably think of...

As governments and global leaders gather in the coming months at several summits and meetings, from the UN High Level Political Forum in New York, to the G7 summit and the UN General Assembly, fighting inequality will once again be high on the agenda. But they are failing to deal with the inequality crisis.
This open...

The World Bank claims poverty is decreasing around the world but UN research shows it depends on what you measure. If we are serious about reducing poverty, we need to start by properly identifying it.
The World Bank has repeatedly claimed that extreme poverty is on the decline. In its Poverty and Shared Prosperity...